convention glances, third day

Notice there is none of this Convention: Day III around here. Some of us are old enough to remember when we weren't so pretentious. What changed the style? Briefly: a combination of Super Bowl hype (with their roman numerals) and the Iranian hostage crisis at the end of the Carter era, when Ted Koeppel hosted the pre-Nightline update every late night, with portentous theme music, big banner and pretentious title: Hostage Crisis, Day 21, or whatever. Ain't been the same since.

Okay, this is maybe a cover for not very much to say about today in Boston, as we did not watch real assiduously. Life goes on, you know? Anyway, the big deal was the John Edwards speech, which was his well-tested stump speech with some notable extras. The delivery was a bit shaky, a combination perhaps of dry mouth from decongestants (Edwards was said to be fighting a cold) and unfamiliarity with speaking---especially hearing yourself speak---in such a large arena with upwards of five thousand people screaming at your every pause.

But Edwards did what he needed to, and those extras were important: like voicing support for the 9-11 commission while the Bushies still dither, and pointedly saying it won't take three years for John Kerry to fix the intelligence system. He connected well on his middle class and "two Americas" issues; his strength in biography backing his words made even stronger by the presence of his parents---his references to them were skillfully done. His "I'm sick of negative campaigning, aren't you?" should play well with independents. It was also important for a white southerner to take Obama's point against identity politics and show another facet by saying, where should we talk about problems of race? Everywhere.

The only other speech we caught (on replay) was Al Sharpton's, and it was a great speech. It was the rouser the conventioneers were waiting for, and it made some very good points on Bush, and his pathetic attempts to charm away black voters. Yet Sharpton also made strong arguments in favor of Kerry, not only on policy but on character.

We haven't mentioned much so far in these reports about media coverage, and that's partly because we haven't been watching much of it. We've stayed with C-Span for most of the time, getting all convention and nothing but the convention in full. But since we missed stuff earlier we did check in with cable and network a little. What crap! But then you knew that. We just loved the CNN bobbleheads sounding like a bunch of schoolmarms after Sharpton spoke. He went way over time! Oh dear! He improvised and drove the poor teleprompter guy nuts! Tsk tsk. And shame shame, the Kerry people can't be happy that he wasn't just positive and on message. We sincerely doubt that the Kerry people thought they could put Al Sharpton on in early prime time and expect a soporific speech. We think they're smarter than that, and they were just fine with this.

Jesse Jackson spoke earlier (one we missed) but as Sharpton left the stage, when he must have known he'd just had the political moment of his life, we figured he knew exactly what he was doing---he was taking another necessary step. Martin Luther King took one at the March on Washington. Jesse Jackson took a big one in his speeches to Democratic conventions in the late 80s and early 90s, and his candidacies. Jackson was often criticised for alienating other Democrats and dividing the party by essentially being too black for prime time. Notice however that by the time Sharpton spoke at this convention, that no longer was an issue: an absolutely united party loved his speech. What the CNN folks were worried about were the swing voters, the independents and Republicans watching at home. Too black for them, supposedly.

Maybe, but it was a necessary step. ML King knew it--he said "I may not get there with you." Jesse Jackson must have known it. We suspect Sharpton knew it as he left the stage---he wasn't making the speech for his career, he's very unlikely to be a presidential candidate again, he probably knows he won't get there. But it was a necessary step. Maybe for Obama. Who might get there.

For blacks, Sharpton's bio is at least as compelling as Edward's---raised by a single mother who worked as a cleaning woman. He spoke truths that black people know quite well, even if white people aren't around to hear them much. His evocation of the cost in blood of the civil rights won for racial minorities was eloquent. And he was the only speaker we heard so far to bring up the importance of Supreme Court appointments by the next president, as a reason to take this election seriously. His comment was as astute and true as it was funny: "If George Bush had appointed the Supreme Court in 1954, Clarence Thomas would have never gotten into law school."

We know that journalists have to ask dumb questions just to evoke perhaps interesting answers, but come on, Charlie Rose. He asked some Democratic party official, what do you say to people who say they don't know what John Kerry is going to do, on education, on trade, on the environment.... Well, what we'd say (which is possibly why we are not party officials) is: you can try reading his positions on his website, or listen to a speech. What do you expect us to do, inject the information through feeding tubes while these people are watching American Idol?

Edwards talked perhaps more than expected about specific policies and programs, which may suggest that Kerry is preparing to be less programmatic, in both senses. The bobbleheads are debating the expectations they are themselves creating--will Kerry's speech measure up to Obama's or Clinton's? First, it won't have to, because few people outside the hall heard them, and absolutely every speaker in the hall has been talking about what a great guy Kerry is. Second, it will anyway. We expect him to blow all the expectations out of the water. But who cares about speculation? Wait a few hours and find out.

The third night ended with an extended and largely symbolic roll-call of the states. Since this used to be our favorite part of conventions we watched too much of it anyway, but our impatient persistence was rewarded by Pennsylvania. State after state prefaced the announcements of their votes with silly bits of hype for their tourist attractions and politicians. Then PA Governor Ed Rendell stepped up: "Pennsylvania, which will do its talking on election day, gives all of its votes to John Kerry."